


Under the Weather

by ProcrastinatingPalindrome



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Mostly Fluff, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-26
Updated: 2016-12-26
Packaged: 2018-09-12 02:46:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9052129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProcrastinatingPalindrome/pseuds/ProcrastinatingPalindrome
Summary: Victor spends his 28th birthday in bed with the flu while Yuuri fusses over him. Somehow, he doesn't seem too upset about this.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Just a quick fluffy thing for the holidays and Victor's birthday. Enjoy!

“Yuuri,” Victor said, absolutely serious and for probably the fourth time now, “did you know…did you know that your hair is...is the softest thing? In the world? Did you know that, Yuuri?”

And for probably the fourth time now, Yuuri felt his cheeks go warm, which he tried to ignore as he applied a fresh damp cloth to Victor’s forehead. One would think that he would get immune to his fiancé’s feverish, rambling compliments, especially considering how often he was repeating them, but no. Yuuri was a weak, hopeless man. “You, um…mentioned that a few times already, Victor.”

“Well, it is,” Victor sighed dreamily, reaching a faintly trembling hand out to pat at Yuuri’s head. “The softest…soft…I want a pillow made of your hair, that’s how soft.”

“That’s a little creepy,” Yuuri said, still entirely too flustered by this nonsense and wondering if maybe he needed to cut Victor back on his cold medicine dosage. “Now please stop talking for a minute, I want to take your temperature again.”

“An’ yo’ eyesh!” Victor continued around the thermometer Yuuri tried to stick under his tongue, “Dere sho pwetty!”

“Victor, please. I need to check your fever. Just…shh, for a few seconds.”

For once, Victor followed instructions and let Yuuri set the thermometer in place, gazing up at Yuuri with unabashed adoration even as his eyelids drooped sleepily. He really did look pretty terrible, or at least as close as Victor Nikiforov could get to terrible. He was pale under the bright flush of fever, with dark bags hanging heavy under his eyes. His hair stuck to his sweat-damp face, and he had to keep sniffling to stop his nose from dripping. He had been suffering from a nasty cough for several days too, but the latest mug of tea with honey that Yuuri had coaxed him into drinking seemed to be helping relieve that symptom at least a little.

It was just rotten luck that Victor had to come down with the flu _now_ of all times. Of course December was flu season, of course the bug had been spreading like wildfire around Hasetsu…but couldn’t it have waited until after Victor’s birthday was past? Yuuri had been planning a special day out for the two of them, and had been practicing baking in secret just so he could hopefully produce something resembling an edible birthday cake by December 25th…but then Victor had started to cough a few days ago, and all his plans had been thrown out the window.

“Your fever is still pretty bad,” Yuuri said with an unhappy sigh as he looked at the flashing number on the end of the thermometer. “I don’t think it’s quite bad enough to go to the hospital, but—”

“No hospitals,” Victor said flatly, tugging the blankets up to his chin like a sulky child.

“I-I don’t want to take you to the hospital either, but if you get any worse—”

“Don’t need it.” He gave Yuuri a sleepy grin. “I have the handsomest nurse in the world looking after me.”

Yuuri cleared his throat and tried to ignore that last part, even as the heat rose in his cheeks yet again. “Do you need anything? Tea, soup? Cough drops? Tissues? You probably shouldn’t take any more medicine for a little while...um, more blankets? An extra pillow?”

Victor gave a little laugh, but it broke off into a wracking cough all too soon. “Nurse Yuuri is so kind. What did I do to deserve such good treatment?”

Yuuri sighed and looked away, busying himself with straightening the blankets. “I-I just feel bad about all this.”

Victor tipped his head like a puzzled dog. “Why? You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“But you’re sick!” Yuuri finally exclaimed in frustration. “On your birthday! And it’s the first time we’re together for it, and I wanted to do something special for you and now…” He gave a miserable shrug. “And now the first birthday you spent with me is probably the worst birthday you’ve ever had.”

“Yuuri,” Victor said solemnly, sitting up a little in bed, “this is definitely not my worst birthday. Not even close to the worst! I’ve been alone on my birthday before, or surrounded by people so terrible I _wished_ I was alone, and I—” He choked, lapsing into another bout of coughing.

Yuuri wrapped an arm around his shoulders and pulled him upright to ease his breathing, letting Victor lean heavily against him until the spell passed. Sickly damp heat bled through his pajamas, and Yuuri debated helping him change into something dry. It wouldn't help the situation to let Victor sit around in sweat-soaked clothes, but he didn't want to move Victor around too much when he was still so weak and shaky. For now, Yuuri decided, it could wait. Victor was better off staying still and quiet for the time being.

“I’ve gotten drunk on my birthday before,” Victor wheezed softly, in the silence that fell after his coughing fit faded, “because I wanted to forget how unhappy I was. And one year, I was living on the couch at Yakov's apartment when my birthday rolled around.” He paused, blinking sluggishly. His eyes were far away. “Actually, that wasn’t...wasn't such a terrible birthday. Yakov was very kind to let me stay there when I had nowhere to go, even if he grumbled about it. And he bought me a cake. I think I cried a little. It...it had been a difficult...year.”

Yuuri swallowed hard, and gently eased Victor back down onto the bed when his brief moment of energy fizzled out into exhaustion again. There was so much he still didn’t know about Victor, but Yuuri didn’t want him baring his soul now, not while he was too feverish to think about the words coming out of his mouth. Someday, someday Yuuri wanted to know everything. He wanted to know about those sad times Victor only mentioned in passing, about the father who he never spoke well of, the grandmother who he’d recall with such wistful fondness, the years of loneliness that had left a mark Yuuri had come to recognize on the bright, brilliant man he loved…but only when Victor was ready. Not a moment before.

“You should try to sleep,” Yuuri said softly, brushing the hair away from Victor’s face. “You can’t get better if you don’t rest.”

“As Nurse Yuuri commands,” Victor mumbled, with only a hint of his usual spirit. “I’ll try to be a good patient.”

“Okay. Sleep well. Your phone is next to the bed, so just call me if you need anything. You don’t even need to talk, just call and I’ll come as fast as I can.”

“This isn’t my worst birthday, Yuuri.”

Yuuri managed a smile. “I know. It’s okay. Don’t worry about it.”

“I mean it,” Victor insisted, even as his eyes started to flutter closed. “I think…I think it might be the best birthday I’ve ever had. Because I’ve got...I've got _you_ here with me. What more could I want? I feel like the luckiest man in the world.”

Yuuri couldn’t find any words to say to that, not until Victor had finally nodded off, breathing slow and deep.

“I feel like the luckiest man in the world too,” he said quietly as his fiancé slept.

Later, he promised himself, later they would celebrate properly. Later, when Victor was better, Yuuri would bake him a cake, and take him to that cafe where they served the hot chocolate Victor liked so much, and go out at night just to see the stars together. He would give Victor the kind of birthday he deserved. But for now, Victor needed sleep. Slowly, careful not to wake him, Yuuri bent down to press a kiss to Victor’s warm forehead. The older man didn’t stir, not from the kiss and not as Yuuri carefully backed out of the room and slide the door shut behind him…but he liked to imagine that just for quick moment, there had been a small smile on Victor’s face.


End file.
